In a slimming treatment (defattening) in actual use, the human body or a part thereof can be coated with paraffin at its melting point such that a sheath or layer of paraffin surrounds the body part to induce transpiration. More precisely, the paraffin has the effect of accelerating the organic combustion process in the subcutaneous and the subadipose cellular tissues of the skin and of eliminating wastes produced in the reaction. The increased metabolism of the tissues below the epidermis causes a loss of weight of the body part and a sloughing of dead skin.
In conventional techniques for practicing this process, the paraffin is heated to its melting point, usually emulsified, and applied to the skin by a brush. The paraffin layer is maintained in place for a variable period of the order of fifteen minutes to one hour and is then removed. This technique is time consuming and difficult, requiring fastidious practitioners and is annoying to the subject treated.